As the 20th century came to a close, Alabama football was riding high. The Tide had been beaten at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time, had won the 1999 Southeastern Conference championship with a blowout of Florida and was a fixture in the top five in recruiting rankings.
Who could have guessed the Tide would go 3-8 in 2000 after being ranked No. 3 in the preseason polls and would win just one of the next eight Iron Bowls?
And as the Tide struggled through the Mike Shula era, trying to deal with the effects of probation, who would have believed that it would be trying to finish the regular season at 12-0 for the second consecutive season under Nick Saban?
In the middle of this decade, Auburn football was at an all-time high. It was in a position every bit as strong, maybe stronger, than Alabama is in today. Only the media hysteria was missing.
The Tigers went 13-0 in 2004, missing an opportunity to play for a national championship only because of a circumstance that had never happened before and probably never will again. Three teams from BCS conferences went 12-0 in the regular season.
The Tigers won 13 consecutive games against SEC opponents before falling in overtime at LSU in 2005 when John Vaughn missed five field goal attempts, then finished the season by winning four more SEC games consecutively. In 2006, they went 11-2, beating Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.
As LSU celebrated the 2007 national championship, who would have thought it would lose eight of its next 15 SEC games?
Who would have believed that, two years later, they would go 5-7, lose 36-0 to Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Tommy Tuberville would resign after 10 seasons as head coach
Whatever happens Friday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, whether Auburn pulls an upset, whether Alabama goes on to win a championship or doesn’t, no one can predict what will happen in the years ahead. Every season is different. Injury luck, schedule luck and just plain luck can make or break a season.
And in the SEC, once you lose your foothold at the top of the mountain, the climb back up is often difficult.
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